A trip to Toronto Islands on a sunny spring day.
Photos and stories – an eclectic mix of history and nature that resulted from wandering around the eastern portion of the islands.

below: From the ferry, looking toward the glass and steel of the city.

Toronto Islands is a collection of at least 12 small islands. In the early years the island archipelago was really a peninsula of sandbars and ponds; it was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of sandy shoreline. This landform was created over centuries by the action of waves, winds and lake currents – washing away portions of the Scarborough Bluffs and depositing this material to the west in a five-mile-long hooked shape. This process of natural “landscaping” continued until the spring of 1858, when a particularly powerful hurricane created a channel four to five feet deep through the peninsula. By June of that year, the Eastern Gap was a waterway, and the Toronto Islands came into being.

below: On the ferry between the city and Centre Island.

The first buildings on the islands were the Blockhouse Bay garrison built in the 1794 by the British at Gibraltar Point – it included a blockhouse and storage structures. A second blockhouse and a guard house were built soon after, only to be destroyed by the Americans in the Battle of York in April 1813. The lighthouse at Gibraltar Point built in 1809 still stands (sorry, no photo).

In 1833 Michael O’Connor built a hotel on one the islands. He used a horse-drawn boat to ferry customers across from the mainland to his hotel. At that time, there was still access by road but it was a toll road. In 1836 it cost sixpence for every four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses. Smaller ‘vehicles’ paid less. In 1858 the hotel (now Quinns Hotel) was destroyed during the same hurricane that turned the peninsula into an island. The hotels were destroyed but the islands remained popular. With no road access, ferries were needed and many people ran private ferry services until they were bought out or amalgamated into the Toronto Ferry Company in 1892. It was privately owned until 1926 when it was purchased by the City of Toronto for $337,500.

Many houses and businesses, (hotels, restaurants, bowling alley, laundry, theatre etc) were established over the years from Hanlon’s Point in the west to Wards Island in the east. Today, residences are only in the eastern section of Wards Island and on Algonquin Island.

The Ward’s Island community began in the 1880s as a settlement of tents. Up until then, that eastern end of the islands was mostly wetlands. The first summer colony on Ward’s in 1899 consisted of just eight tenants, each of whom had paid a fee of $10 rent for the season. The number of tents grew each year. In 1913, the city felt it necessary to organize the community into streets. The evolution from tents to cottage structures progressed in stages with the building of floors, the addition of kitchens and then porches, resulting in the creation of the homes.

In 1953 the municipal government changed their policy toward the Toronto Islands landscape and its residents. Businesses were removed and the systematic demolition and burning of homes began. More of the islands became parkland. There are 262 houses on Wards and Algonquin Islands today, down from about 630 residences on all the islands. The last of the Lakeshore houses was removed in 1968 but traces of them still remain.

below: The pier on the Lake Ontario side.

below: Sandbags along the shore. Last spring there was a lot of flooding here and the island was closed to visitors – sort of. Ferries didn’t run and the park facilities were closed. The islands are very flat and low so it doesn’t take much extra water to flood.

below: There is a small amusement park, Centreville, on Centre Island.

below: Island transport that can be rented if you don’t want to walk.

below: Boats moored QCYC (Queen City Yacht Club), one of the three yacht clubs on the islands.

below: Sakura trees in bloom. The trees were donated by the Sakura Project. The aim of this project was to strengthen Japanese Canadian relations by planting cherry trees in visible locations across Ontario. Between 2000 and 2012, 3,082 trees were planted at 58 locations. The trees on Centre Island were planted in 2011.

below: Catkins from a red alder tree. They almost look like raspberries packed tight together.

below: An early family of Canada geese.

below: The pier at the eastern end of Wards Island is bad need of repair. To the right is the entry into the Eastern Channel (or Eastern Gap).

below: Looking over to Algonquin Island. Once upon a time this island was just a sandbar.

below: Aerial view of the present configuration of the Keating Channel, Don River, and part of the port lands beside a drawing of the planned changes. Rerouting the Don River will create an island, Villiers Island.

In the 1880s, the lower part of the Don south of the former Winchester St. bridge (just north of Gerrard St) was straightened and the mouth of the river was placed in a channel to create additional harbour space and industrial dock space for boats in what is known as the Port Lands. This project was called the Don Improvement Project. The Don River now empties into the inner harbour through the Keating Channel. Lakeshore Blvd passes over the very south end of the river and because of its height (very low), boats can not enter the Don River. Boats may still enter the Keating Channel by going underneath a lift bridge at Cherry St. The straightening of the Lower Don also allowed for construction of the railway line parallel to it.

below: The cars are parked on vacant land between Lakeshore Blvd and Lake Ontario/Keating Channel. Mounds of gravel have been dumped off the end of Essroc Quay and beside Keating Channel. You might also have noticed the nine green bins that have been laid across the water (very left side of the photo). They too are full of gravel. These are part of the beginning of the renovations of the port lands. The Keating Channel will remain, but the area south of it is slated to be changed. In the middle is the GFL (garbage collection) transfer station. The low reddish brown building was a recycling facility. It was the site of a fire a few months back and most of the south end sustained substantial damage.

Access to the western portion of the port lands is via the Cherry Street bridge.

below: Here it is being lifted to allow a boat to pass through the Keating Channel. This bridge was built in 1968 and is at least the fourth bridge at this location.

below: In 1900 a wood swing bridge was built with just a single railway track that was operated by the Grand Trunk Railway. There are still remnants of the tracks that serviced the industries located in the area.

below: Two steel drawbridges were subsequently built here, one in 1912 and one in 1932. This is a circa 1915 photo of the lift bridge at Cherry Street.

source: Originally from the Toronto Archives Fonds 1244, Item 1482 but found on Wikipedia

The plans for the redevelopment of this area show that the south end of Cherry Street will be moved to west of its present location – the jog in Cherry where it joins the Lakeshore for a short distance will be eliminated.

below: This is a close up shot of Essroc Quay at approximately the new location of the new Cherry Street bridge. The Keating Channel is in the foreground. This quay, and the water channel behind it, will be turned into wetlands and parkland. Essroc is a landfilled pier and is publicly owned as is Cousins Quay (the one behind it with the GFL transfer station).

below: A new fence too.

below: Looking across Essroc Quay to the Toronto skyline

There are many reasons for rerouting the Don River. The Port Lands are no longer used by many industries, land use has changed. As the city grows and changes, this area has become prime real estate but it is also a flood plain. Before any development can occur, flood control measures need to be taken. The Cherry Street Stormwater and Lakefilling project will stabilize the local shoreline, protect land from flooding, and create a new landmass to begin the re-naturalization of the Don River’s mouth. The river would be re-routed through the middle of the Lower Don Lands between the Keating Channel and the Ship Channel. The area being filled will become part of ‘Promontory Park’, a new major green space across the harbour from Toronto’s skyline.

The project will also allow for a realignment of Cherry Street so that it no longer merges with Lakeshore for a short distance. At the moment, the Cherry street and Lakeshore Blvd intersection is problematic, especially for pedestrians. Once upon a time there wasn’t much reason for people to walk there I guess. Now, if you are on the wrong side (the west side) of Cherry street, you get stranded at Lakeshore.

The Keating Channel isn’t exactly beautiful. Lakeshore Blvd and the Gardiner Expressway run along the north shore of the channel. There has been discussion & debate about the fate of these roads but so far nothing has changed. Will they demolish this section of the elevated Gardiner? Or won’t they? (Probably not).

below: The very south end of the Don River at the moment. Not much to get excited about is it? It looks like there is work being done under the bridge? (something’s happening there but I don’t know what). Hopefully it will look better in a few years.

The Ship Channel is south of the proposed changes described above.

below: Piles of salt on the south side of Ship Channel. These arrive by ship. The old Hearn Generating Station is in the background.

Yesterday started damp and grey but then flipped to bright and sunny. Almost spring-like even. So off to the beach I went.

Well, not that kind of beach. It does look warm though doesn’t it? Yesterday it was more like this:

below: Looking towards Lake Ontario from Kew Beach Ave. Lots of trees and lots of what looks like grass but is more like mud. Squish, squish as I walked gingerly across the water logged ground, trying to keep my shoes clean.

The goal? To check out this year’s warming stations art installations. Lots of others had the same idea as it turns out. Some kids, some dogs, but that’s okay.

below: Interacting with “Nest” both on the outside…..

below: …. and on the inside. Like all the other warming stations, this one is built around a lifeguard station.

below: The structure is covered with netting-like fabric on the inside and webbing on the outside. It was designed by a team from Ryerson University – Adrian Chiu, Arnel Espanol, and Henry Mai.

below: A sign of the times, a pink pussy hat makes its appearance as “Pussy Hut”

below: “What’s all the fuss about?”

below: A large square made of many pieces of hanging red fabric, anchored at the bottom with plywood. This is “Obstacle” by Kien Pham.

below: “Revolution” by a design team from OCAD university. It consists of 36 vertical red poles with conical metal pieces that twirl. You can look through them or speak through them, or just walk amongst the red poles.

below: Red!

below: “Rising Up” by University of Guelph, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. The design was inspired by the topography of the Don Valley.

below: Ooops! One has blown over and collapsed already (it was quite windy). Ironically it was called “Wind Station” (designed by Paul van den Berg and Joyce de Grauw). When it was first constructed, it was in the shape of a nuclear cooling tower and you could go inside. The little plastic windmills continue to blow in the wind.

below: Not everyone was looking at the warming stations.

below: This is ‘Make Some Noise’, designed by Alexander Greiss and Jorel Heid. Apparently it is based on based on the intonarumori, an invention of the Italian futurist Luigi Rusollo in 1914. An intonarumori generates noise. Rusollo envisioned noise music replacing traditional forms of music but he was not successful and none of his contraptions survived.

below: This is one side of the box. The red is a handle that can be turned thus generating noise. I don’t think that it was working. Each side had a handle and a black speaker.

Ice Breakers returned to the Toronto waterfront once again last month. In mid-January five interactive art installations were built along Queens Quay West between the Harbourfront Centre in the east and the Music Garden in the west.

below: Appropriate for a space called the Music Garden, is a large structure supporting many wind chimes. This is “Ensemble” by Joao Araujo Sousa and Joana Correia Silva of Portugal.

There are two installations in H2O Park.

below: On the west side of the park is “Winter Fanfare” by Thena Tak of Vancouver. It is made from painted layers of wood. After I had walked past this installation I happened to look back to see a group of boys using these wood forms as protection as they had a snow ball fight.

below: Also in H2O park is “Through the Eyes of the Bear”. This giant bear, or rather parts of a bear, is the creation of Tanya Goertzen of Calgary.

below: The large head of the bear is open at the back. With a little crouching you can go inside and look out through the bear’s eyes. It’s got a great view of the CN Tower!

below: Close to the Simcoe Wave Deck (at the bottom of Simcoe Street) is a structure called “Black Bamboo” that you can walk through. It was designed by Bennet Marburger and Ji Zhang of China.

below: Last is “Root Cabin”, a small hut constructed from large tree roots. The day that I walked past these Ice Breakers was early on when they weren’t quite complete. The roots were being arranged, like a puzzle being put together. The pink frame was being used as a guide and the plan was to remove it once the roots were in place. This installation was designed by Liz Wreford and Peter Sampson from Winnipeg.

It’s been a while, I know. Part of my excuse – the holidays got in the way. But more importantly, it’s been very cold with bitter winds adding to our discomfort. The very cold days are beautiful with their bright blue skies. Although I have walked once or twice in -20C weather, the pictures here are from a warmer day when it was possible to take pictures without freezing my fingers off. Unfortunately, in the winter warmer often means greyer. I thought of calling this post “In Search of Winter” but that would be silly as no search is needed, it hits you in the face and it surrounds you. Everyone is talking about the cold.

below: Winter in the city isn’t always picturesque. Salt and sand and snow mix together to form slush. Brown ugly slush, especially on the roads and sidewalks as seen here on Queens Quay West. Of course, if you live in Toronto you are already well aware of this!

below: H2O park now has a pink #TOwaterfront sign (sculpture?) to go with its yellow umbrellas and white Muskoka chairs. The weakened winter sun tried to break through the wall of clouds.

below: The other morning there was a small group of Toronto firemen all dressed for the icy water as they practiced winter rescue procedures. Both men were tethered to the shore.

below: Just a few footprints in the snow. I wasn’t the only one walking this way but there certainly weren’t any crowds.

below: A cold and lonely barbecue, as well as one under wraps, waiting out the winter on the dock.

below: Access to the docks along the waterfront was discouraged. It was easy to get out there but I suspect that if I’d fallen in I would have gotten in trouble, and not just from being wet. I wonder how thick the ice was there?

below: Instead of comic relief, we have colour relief!

below: Ducks on ice. Have you ever seen a duck land in the snow? It looks exactly like a landing in water but with a much shorter skid at it comes to a stop. Or maybe that was obvious because how else would a duck land?

below: More ducks… ducks swimming in the small patch of open water. There can’t be much food for them these days.

below: Lake Ontario with the Port Lands and the Toronto Islands in the background. Windswept snow on the ice.

Stay warm everyone!

And don’t lose your gloves! There are so many lost and lonely gloves out there… I hope that this one isn’t yours because if you’re like me, you lose at least one every winter. I wonder they end up? In landfills? … where archeologists of the future will dig up all these single gloves and mitts and wonder what it says about our society? [smile!]

After parts were shuttered 40 years ago, Ontario Place has re-opened to the public. The spherical Cinesphere and the buildings that are over the water are not open but the grounds are.

below: Canadian and Ontario flags fly along the docks of the Ontario Place Marina.

below: Double trouble. Hot x 2

below: Those are some very big boats!

There is also a new park, Trillium Park, that has been built on the eastern end of Ontario Place. It is 7.5 acres of green space with a 1.3 km trail (the William G. Davis trail) winding through it.

below: Trillium Park provides new angles from which to view the CN Tower and the Toronto skyline.

below: It is also a spot from which to watch airplanes as they take off from Billy Bishop Airport.

below: Sunbathers

below: Rock climbing

below: Water levels in Brigantine Cove, like all of Lake Ontario, are higher than usual.

below: There are still some traces of the amusement park rides that were once there. There is no water in the boat ride, but the bilingual warning signs are still on the rocks. “Keep hands, arms and head inside boat. Stay seated.”

below: Tbonez (urban ninja squadron) must have been to Ontario Place recently

below: Crochet street art, marine life, discovered clinging to the underside of a small wooden bridge.
This picture is upside down.

below: A painting of a man painting and of his shadow painting.

below: And last, music events are held at Echo Beach, a section of Ontario Place. The day that I was there a steady background noise from the electronic (techno? I’m out of date on newer music genres) music permeated the park. You couldn’t escape it. This isn’t the best picture but I didn’t get very close – my poor head! I was interested in the palm trees but I couldn’t get the right angle. There are other music events happening this summer so maybe you can time your visit to coincide with music that you like!

Maybe you thought that the duck was a waste of money or maybe you thought the duck was a fantastic idea. Maybe you didn’t like the duck because it wasn’t Canadian enough for a Canada Day celebration (the Canaduck!) or maybe you didn’t care about such things. It certainly generated a lot of discussion even before it arrived – who hasn’t heard about the duck? Who didn’t have an opinion about the duck? It spawned the hashtag #whattheduck, a play on WTF.

The noise has now all died down. The 150th birthday party is over.

I don’t think that I am alone in thinking that the duck was the star of the Redpath Waterfront Festival and that the festival organizers have no regrets about spending the money on the duck.

below: The yellow duck was moored by HTO beach (that’s the one with the yellow umbrellas) for the duration of the July 1st long weekend. It smiled through rain and shine.

below: It was a popular duck and it attracted about a million people. People of all ages. It was about 6 storeys tall so even if you couldn’t get close to it, you could still get a good view.

below: Millions of photos were taken with (and of) the duck. It was a willing subject and it stayed still – it was good at holding a pose. The trick was to get a selfie that didn’t have lots of other people in it! He was a bit grubby – maybe too big for a bathtub? – but no one cared.

below: Not everyone was excited to see the duck!

below: One last look at the duck. On Monday evening the duck was towed across Toronto Harbour to the Port Lands where it was deflated and readied to be sent to Owen Sound for the next port of call on its Ontario tour.